Female graduates tend to be lower paid: ABS

By
SEAN FORD

Male graduates tend to get paid more than female graduates in many fields. Why do you think this happens?

Female graduates have lower starting salaries in a majority of fields measured by the ABS.

TERTIARY educated women appear to get a raw deal on salaries in Australia.

Of bachelor degree graduates aged less than 25 who graduated in 2012, male starting median salaries were higher than those of their female counterparts in 14 of 23 selected fields of study, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.

It is widely known males outstrip females on average pay in Australia.

Factors in that would include that men dominate employment in some higher paying industries, such as mining, while women dominate numbers in some lower paying industries.

Also, women are more likely to take extended time off work than their male partners after children are born, meaning the males advance their careers while the females do not during those years.

However, those cannot be factors in why so many female graduates appear to start on the back foot on pays.

The ABS figures showed women's median starting salaries were higher than men's in four of the 23 fields (computer science, earth sciences, engineering and pharmacy).

Two other fields had equal starting medians (psychology and medicine), while the ABS did not get enough data to produce reliable figures in three fields.